The Consortium for Health Education, Economic Empowerment and Research (CHEER) NCMHD Exploratory Center of Excellence has as its primary mission to: engage in community-based collaborations to accomplish research and incorporate the role of community assets and personal economic efficacy in order to drive healthy lifestyles for at risk persons in Memphis and the Delta region. We expect these efforts to result in new and innovative approaches to address high rates of chronic illnesses and to mitigate racial/ethnic inequities in health status. We propose to develop and maintain two cores. These are the Administrative Core and the Community Engagement and Outreach Core. The Administrative Core will: 1) provide scientific, practice, and administrative leadership for community-based research addressing minority health and health disparities;2) facilitate collaborative research among CHEER partners and attract hew researchers to the study of health disparities;and 3) ensure that CHEER develops into a valued, trusted, community-, institution-, and state-wide resource for mitigating health disparities and examining new models of health possibilities. The Community Engagement and Outreach Core will improve health knowledge and health promotion behaviors, thus reducing health disparities. It will develop new and strengthen existing collaborative partnerships to enhance the capacity of current and future partners to engage in mutually beneficial community-based participatory research and evidence-based health promotion activities relative to preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The core will also empower community organizations to obtain resources to sustain health-focused programs. CHEER will serve as a valued resource for Memphis, a southern city that is plagued with multiple health challenges that are disproportionately experienced within ethnic minority communities.